Just wanted to share a little tip for any owners of the Sony DVP-S7000. As you may know, this was the flagship DVD player from Sony, and the engineers went all out, as Sony always does with its first product, including just about all the innards from Sony's $3,000 CD player. They apparently went a little too all out, and someone told them that it could not sound as good as Sony's $3000 CD player, for obvious reasons. So the engineers threw a wrench into the line out that makes it sound harsh. At least, that's my interpretation. The reviewer just said there was a resistor or something in the lineout that did not make sense, and would make it sound harsh. However, they then over-engineered the headphone out. I believe I read that it is a Class A amp. This puzzled the reviewer. Why include such an expensive headphone amp with a DVD player? Apparently because the engineers were looking for a way around the line output issue. I have been using my DVP-S7000 for five years as my primary CD player and the stereo imaging and detail is outstanding, even better than my XA1ES. But while we're on the subject, the Citizen CD-140 and CD-230 sound remarkably close the XA1ES. This is a portable CD player, but one that is a bit heavier than usual and has an unusually powerful amp. I can't help wondering if it has the same DAC as these Sonys. After all, the engineering is about 10 years old. The circuit board on the XA1ES is not much bigger than a portable CD player. However, I have not opened up the Citizen to try to see the chips. Who know, the DAC may be made in China now and not have the same label. But the Citizen is the best portable CD player I have heard. Oh, by the way, you have to turn off the ESP, which adds a significant amount of distortion because of some sort of compression.